Introduction Michael M. Gunter --Part I Kurdish studies --1. Kurdish studies in the United States Michael M. Gunter 2. Kurdish studies in Europe Vera Eccarius-Kelly --Part II Early Kurdish history --3. The Kurdish emirates: Obstacles or precursors to Kurdish nationalism? Michael Eppel 4. An overview of Kurdistan of the 19th century Hamit Bozarslan 5. The development of the Kurdish national movement in Turkey from Mahmud II to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk Ahmet Serdar Akturk --Part III Kurdish culture --6. Ehmede Xanis Mem u Zin: The consecration of a Kurdish national epic Michiel Leezenberg 7. Classical and modern Kurdish literature Hashem Ahmadzadeh 8. Calibrating Kurmanji and Sorani: Proposal for a methodology Michael L. Chyet 9. Kurdish cinema Bahar ?im?ek --Part IV Economic dimensions --10. The oil imperative in the KRG David Romano 11. De-development in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia Veli Yadirgi --Part V Religion --12. Islam and the Kurds Mehmet Gurses 13. The inadequate Islamic grappling with the Kurdish issue Christopher Houston 14. The Jewish communities in Kurdistan within the tribal Kurdish society Mordechai Zaken 15. Yezidi baptism and rebaptism: Resilience, reintegration, and religious adaptation Tyler Fisher and Nahro Zagros --Part VI Geography and travel --16. The geopolitics of the Kurds since World War I: Between Iraq and other hard places Michael B. Bishku 17. Roaming Iraqi Kurdistan Stafford Clarry --Part VII Women --18. Kurdish women Anna Grabolle-Celiker --Part VIII The Kurdish situation in Turkey --19. The rise of the pro-Kurdish democratic movement in Turkey Cengiz Gunes 20. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Kurdish political parties in the 1970s Joost Jongerden and Ahmet Hamdi Akkaya 21. Turkeys Kurdish complexes and its Syrian quagmire Bill Park --Part IX The Kurdish situation in Iraq --22. The state were in: Postcolonial sequestration and the Kurdish quest for independence since the First World War Francis Owtram 23. The disputed territories of Northern Iraq: ISIS and beyond Liam Anderson 24. The continuing problem of KRG corruption Michael Rubin 25. The Russian historical and political approach towards nonconventional independence of Iraqi Kurdistan Kirill V. Vertyaev --Part X The Kurdish situation in Syria --26. The Kurdish PYD and the Syrian Civil War Eva Savelsberg 27. The evolution of Kurdish struggle in Syria: Between Pan-Kurdism and Syrianization, 19202016 Jordi Tejel 28. The roots of democratic autonomy in Northern SyriaRojava Michael Knapp --Part XI Iran --29. Iran and the Kurds Nader Entessar --Part XII The Kurdish diaspora --30. The future of the Kurdish diaspora sten Wahlbeck 31. Diasporic conceptions of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq Barzoo Eliassi 32. The Kurds in Germany Vera Eccarius-Kelly 33. The Kurdish diaspora in the UK Desmond Fernandes